116 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



OFFICE 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT DISTRIBUTORS 

 1012 Second Street. 



Sacbamexto, Cal.. November 22. 1900. 

 R. D. Stephens, E. M. Angier, C. M. Hartley, Fruit Growers' Committee. 

 Gentiemen : I am in receipt of a communication from you under date of the 

 20th, m which you ask me as Manager of the California Fruit Distributors, which 

 organization handles about 80 per cent of the deciduous fruit shipments o7 the 

 fetate, to answer certain questions in regard to actual results obtained from fruit 

 shipments to Eastern markets during the present season, and other questions relating 

 to the general condition of the business. 8 

 In the first place you refer to the large increase in the shipment of tablp manes 

 during the present season over those of any preceding vear. amounting to over 180 

 per cent in three years, with the probability that there will be a proportionate 

 increase for several years to come, providing the business mav be placed on a pavin- 

 basis from the growers standpoint, and that if it can not a* large percentage of the 

 present acreage must be uprooted. & 



It is a fact that grape shipments have increased very materially of late this 

 present season showing an increase over last year of nearly 2,000 car loads If the 

 information I have received is correct, this proportionate increase will be kept up 

 tor a number of years, until shipments reach such large figures that I do not believe 

 it will be possible to market them profitably. Acting on this belief I have advised 

 growers who have consulted me on the subject to begin the removal of vines pre- 

 paratory to growing other crops, and this advice I am following mvself in our 

 vineyards at Vacaville. 



Unless we are able to give this fruit a far greater distribution than ever has been 

 possible in the past I can not see how it will be possible to profitably market the 

 thousands of car loads that will soon be available. There is but one way in which 

 this could be accomplished, and that would be through verv low cost of transporta- 

 tion as well as low cost of labor in California, both of which conditions I see no 

 reason to expect in the near future. 



You ask if I believe it would be just and equitable to all legitimate interests if 

 the request of the deciduous fruit growers be granted by the railway lines, which 

 request was that their shipments should receive the same rate for transportation 

 as were given to the orange growers of California. 



In answer to this question I would say that there should be no question as to 

 the justice of giving as low a rate on deciduous fruit as on citrus fruit. There is no 

 reason why there should be any question about it. 



There is, however, one feature in connection with your request to which I would 

 like to call your attention, and that is, that you do not go far enough. While it 

 would help us materially to have the so-called postage stamp rate of $1.15 per 

 hundred apply on our shipments, it will not give the relief required, it will onlv 

 help. 



I do not believe it will be possible for the deciduous fruits of California to pay 

 a greater rate than one dollar per hundred, and am firmly of belief that in the near 

 future the railway officials will recognize this fact, and will be obliged in self- 

 defense to give us such a rate. 



A very large percentage of the deciduous fruit shipments from California during 

 the seasons of 1908 and 1909 will show absolutely no profit to the grower, and it 

 will not be possible for this condition of affairs to continue for any great length of 

 time without producing the greatest hardship and loss to all those engaged in the 

 industry. If no relief can be found it will mean that many of our orchards and 

 vineyards must be abandoned. 



You ask if the demand for our fruit in the East has kept pace with the rapidly 

 increasing supply, and I regret to be obliged to say that in my opinion it has not. 

 In order to show a reasonable profit to the California grower it is necessary to sell 

 fruit in Eastern markets at a price that puts it out of the reach of the working- 

 classes. 



Until we are able to sell our fruit profitably to ourselves at a sufficiently low 

 price to enable this great army of people to purchase our products we can hardly 

 hope to increase the demand very materially.^ 



In answer to your question regarding the increase in wages for labor, and asking 

 if there is a sufficient supply of a good class of labor to properly and economically 

 handle our crops, would say that it is a matter of general knowledge that wages are 

 advancing steadily every year, and that there is not sufficient supply of good labor 

 to handle our crops. 



Not only is the price of labor increasing, but the number of hours constituting a 

 day's labor are decreasing, and with higher wages and shortened hours there is a 

 material lessening of the output per man. It is not so many years ago that we 

 figured on a cost of 10 cents per package as covering the labor of picking and 

 packing a crate or box of fruit ; it has been necessary of late to modify these figures 

 so that now 15 cents is a low cost for this work, and in many instances it will average 



